In heat engine vehicles, in particular in motor vehicles, the fuel system includes at the present time, apart from the tank for storing the fuel, a number of accessories. Among these accessories are, inter alia, valves, filters, pumps, gauges and pressure regulators, which are accessories inside the tank.
The current tendency is to integrate several of these components into a single module which is fastened inside the fuel tank (FT), generally by insertion through an opening provided for this purpose (and normally (during operation) sealed by a mounting plate) and then, by fastening with the aid of suitable means, which are preferably reversible so that said module can be removed for maintenance, repair, etc.
Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,353 in the name of the Applicant describes a tank provided with reliefs (slides) molded as one part with the wall of the tank and into which the module can be inserted and held owing to complementary reliefs provided on its lateral surface (flexible protuberances). However, the geometry of these reliefs is such that if the relative bulkiness of the module with respect to the cavity into which it must be inserted is large and/or if the fastening location is distant from the insertion opening, the module cannot in fact be fastened in practice. Moreover, such a fastening system is too readily reversible so that the pump may in fact be detached during handling of the tanks and/or when they are fastened to a vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,716,931 proposes a fastening system for an FT pump/gauge that makes it possible to solve the problem of remote fastening owing to the use of a support which is fastened to a relief close to the insertion opening and into which the pump/gauge is inserted. However, with such a system, not all the movements of the pump/gauge are stopped since, on the one hand, the end of the support where the pump/gauge is fastened is free and since, on the other hand, this component is simply inserted into a relief (ring) of the support and is not fastened to it.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,516 proposes a system for fastening components inside multi-compartment tanks (or saddle-shaped tanks, “saddle tanks” in the jargon of the field) which also uses a support fastened close to the insertion opening. This support comprises hollow reliefs into which arms serving as an extension to the accessories are inserted. Such a system also does not make it possible to stop all the movements of the components since the end of the arms where the components are fastened is free.